It’s a balmy 54F degrees here in New Jersey and all the snow is finally melted – perfect for stocking up on “real” water! I went to my local spring today and collected 20 gallons. With 3 feet of snow this winter, I had to resort to store-bought (a.k.a. plastic tea) and filtered tap water for awhile, but not anymore!

I found these BPA-free containers (see picture) at the Container Store for a decent price. I would LOVE to collect the water in glass, but then I couldn’t lift and haul it back home. UNLESS I got a LOT of mini glass bottles! But that’s kinda impractical.

Yay – I’m so happy Spring officially arrives next week. Bring it on!

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Raw macaroons are nothing new. Been there, done that. Don’t get me wrong – I love ‘em, but I wanted to create something lighter, something different. So when I saw the Zucchini Cacao Cookies by Rawmazing, I was inspired to re-create the famed raw macaroon.

I began by subbing grated zucchini for the shredded coconut found in the typical macaroon recipe. I replaced the agave in the Rawmazing recipe with a combination of coconut nectar and chocolate stevia for a lower glycemic hit. I also swapped out the olive oil in exchange for melted coconut oil and I added a few chopped almonds to mask the “wateriness” of the zucchini and give the ‘roons some crunch! These chocolate zucchini-roons came out yummy. I served them to my family for Christmas without telling them that they contained veggies or that they were raw. Guess what? They loved them!

Chocolate Almond Zuccaroons

"How 'bout some veggies for dessert?"

• 3 cups peeled & grated zucchini
• 2.25 cups old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup cacao powder
• 2 apples, cored and quartered
• 1/4 cup coconut nectar
• 3-4 dropperfuls of chocolate stevia (to taste)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds (optional)

1. Peel & grate zucchini and set aside.
2. Blend/pulse oats into a fine flour consistency in a Blendtec or Vitamix. In a separate bowl, mix together with cacao powder and set aside.
3. Place apples in food processor with coconut nectar, stevia, water and coconut oil. Process until smooth.
4. Stir together flour mixture and apple mixture.
5. Add to grated zucchini and stir until well combined. Mix in chopped almonds if using.
6. Use small ice cream scoop to drop onto non-stick dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate at 145F for 1/2 hour then reduce heat to 115F and dry for 4 hours. Remove from non-stick sheets and continue to dry until done approx 6-8 more hours.

* Have all ingredients at room temperature (except the coconut oil which is melted ) so that the coconut oil does not harden right away.

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It’s that time of year again! My affiliate and fave online store, The Raw Food World is having a HUGE holiday sale. 17.5% off anything in the store except appliances – those are 12% off. Can you believe I placed an order just hours before the coupon was announced?!? LOL. Anyway, I had to take advantage of it, so I’m placing another order.

In addition, they have several items on sale already, so with an additional 17.5% off, it’s hard to pass up such a great deal. One thing I’ve been eyeing for along time are the QBC crystal pendants – so beautiful. So I got the clear pendant as a Christmas gift to moi. It represents transparency, clarity, radiance and full presence. Great way to start 2011!

To check out the items that are currently on sale, go to the Raw Food World website and type HNYMN in the search field. Then to use the 17.5% coupon off of anything on the website (excluding appliances,) use the Raw Food World promo code: HOLIDAY18 when you check out. Use the Raw Food World coupon: HOLIDAY12 to save 12% on appliances. The sale runs until December 31, 2010. Happy shopping!

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Since my last mushroom forage, I’ve had much better luck! I found a beautiful little reishi here in New Jersey. In fact, lately I’ve been spotting mushrooms all over the place just walking around town. Some puffballs even popped up out of the ground one day in my own backyard! I feel like such a nerd, but it’s fun spotting mushrooms and trying to identifiy them. It’s like being on a treasure hunt all the time.

"Puffballs in my Backyard"

"Looks Like Exploding Marshmallows!"

In August, I went to the Annual NJMA Fungus Fest in Morristown, NJ and joined the New Jersey Mycological Association (NJMA.) It was super informative! I had some of my mushrooms identified, went on a short foray and learned about using plugs to grow mushrooms on logs.

I hope to get confident at some point to be able to identify and eat some edibles. Except for my reishi, I’m a bit hesitant to eat any just yet. It would be nice to be able to forage enough wilds to make up a substantial part of my diet some day. I see purslane, dandelion and wood sorrel everywhere in the ‘burbs, but again I’m weary of picking them because of road pollution and potential pesticide contamination. Anybody else out there into mushroom foraging? I would love to hear about it.

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In August, the New York Times published an article about a local water spring that was pronounced “unsafe for human consumption” near my hometown. A spring that people have been drinking from for eons I would imagine. No proof is available or test results of its “unsafety” but the local government decided to put fencing around it to keep people out and “protect” the public. Fencing that has been broken down by those who thankfully refuse to let the gov tell them what water they can and can not drink. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe the gov tries to control people somewhat through the water supply.

“Fluoride as an additive has a dark past: it was first added to water in the Soviet Gulag (prison system) since it is a neurological poison and made political and other difficult prisoners complacent and therefore easier to manage. It was added to the water supplies of the Nazi death and slave labor camps for the same reason.” – Health Freedom USA

So I went to the “condemned spring,” got 12 gallons and since I WAS a bit fearful, I bought a 4-pack WaterSafe Kit that tests for pesticides, chlorine, PH, bacteria, hardness, nitrates, nitrites, etc. I then tested it compared to triple-filtered water from a local spring vendor. Here are the results (sorry so sloppy – I hadn’t planned on taking photos or blogging about this:)

Nitrate/Nitrite - Lower Number & Less Color is Better

Nitrate/Nitrate Test

Above are the results from the Nitrate/Nitrate tests. The top strip is the triple-filtered spring water which tested higher in nitrate/nitrite than the “so-called contaminated” local spring water which tested neutral.

“Nitrate/Nitrites – A common yet incredibly harmful pollutant especially to children and small animals. When animal and human wastes or field fertilizers come in contact with water, they show up as nitrates and nitrites. Both are serious contaminants because they effect the very core of human life.” – WaterSafe

PH, Hardness & Chlorine

Water PH, Hardness and Chlorine

These strips above tested the ph, hardness and chlorine content of the water. (I wrote the test numbers on the strip, but by the time I took the photo the colors had changed so you can’t go by the color on this photo.)

So on this test, the first boxes on the left test for chlorine. Both water samples tested zero for chlorine. The middle box tests for hardness – the filtered water was harder at 250ppm and the natural spring water tested at 120ppm. Water hardness is primarily caused by calcium and magnesium compounds. Lower ppm hardness is desirable and the natural spring water wins on this front. The box to the right tests the water ph. The filtered water has a higher ph of 10 vs. the spring water at a perfectly neutral 7. EPA standards recommend ph between 6.5 – 8.5, so the triple-filtered spring water is out of this range but not sure if that is a bad or good thing.  I also did a bacteria test (no photo available) and they both came back neutral for bacteria.

I’ve since been drinking the contraband spring water and haven’t gotten sick, so it does make me mad that the local gov has not shown proof of what is wrong with the spring water and continues to keep people from accessing it.

Adya Clarity Test Results

So anyway, I had two more tests left in my WaterSafe kit, so I decided to test my home’s tap water (left test strip) vs. the same tap water with a dropper full of  the Adya Clarity that I’ve heard so much about on my affiliate The Raw Food World. Everything tested the same EXCEPT…

Plain Tap Water vs. Same Water w/Adya Clarity

…the Adya Clarity immediately made the tap water more alkaline. Also, the tap water with the Adya Clarity tested for less bacteria than the same tap water without the Adya Clarity. The difference was negligible however.

So what does this all mean? (A) I will continue to get fresh water from my local spring EVEN if I have to climb fences to access it and (B) I need to do more research on Adya Clarity before I draw further conclusions, although I do feel I am benefiting from using it.

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